Pokémon: Years of Highschool
by GrayShifty
Summary: This is the second year of highschool for Ash Ketchum, Ash is an ordinary kid that's good at almost anything except talking to girls. Now, follow Ash to get over this phobia along with other stereotypical highschool problems. There's cursing in this fic
1. Chapter 1

Pokémon: Years of Highschool

 **Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction so give me some slack, okay. By the way there's not going to be Pokémon in this story. Now onto the story, I hope you guys enjoy.**

 **I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

First Day

* * *

"As the sun shone brightly and the birds soar in the morning air, we could see our hero…"

"Gary why are you reading a monologue from like a Pokémon episode?" asked by a sleepy Ash.

"To wake you up, what else?" answered Gary.

"Can't you do it normally?" said Ash while standing up from the bed.

"No." replied Gary with a smirk.

Ash sigh admitting defeat "I'm taking a bath."

"Yeah, we should get going or we'll be late." Gary grab a backpack from under his bed.

"For what?" Ash shouted from inside the bathroom.

"For school." laughed Gary then he left the room.

Ash was left wide-eyed. He forgot that today is the first day of school. He quickly wash his hair then brush his teeth, he rush out of the bathroom and put on some clothes that consist of a light gray T-shirt, a blue sleeveless hoodie, navy blue jeans, and a blue hat with a white semi-circle on the front and a white visor. Then he looks at the mirror and he nodded, he knew he was somewhat attractive. He stood 6 feet 2 inches, he's lean but toned that's probably because he used to play basketball in middle school. He has an unkempt raven black hair, hazel brown eyes and a little tanned skin. Wait a minute, wasn't he suppose to be late?

He dashed out of his room and run down the stairs, he looked around and notice that Gary has already left.

"Ash, do you want some breakfast?" Delia shouted from the kitchen.

"Thanks Mom, but I'm already late so I better get going." said Ash as he grabbed a pair of black sneakers, put it on then he left the house.

* * *

Ash was running top speed, he took a left and could see the school gates. Ash mentally fist pumped as he enter the school gates. "Right on time, Ash." a feminine voice called.

"Yeah, we thought you wouldn't make it." Another voice called but this time it was more masculine.

"Of course I made it I'm _the_ Ash Ketchum." Ash joked. He looked toward the direction of the voices, it's none other than Leaf Green and Gary Oak, his two best friends.

Gary was of course like a brother to Ash, they even live in the same house. The reason for that is all of the Oaks except Gary have already move to Kalos but Gary wanted to stay until college before he moved. Gary stood at 5 feet 11 inches, he's rather muscular because he play football. He has spiky brown hair and black eyes. Gary wears a purple sweater, black ripped jeans and red sneakers.

Leaf was a beautiful girl that Ash don't have a problem talking too. She was like a big sister to him. She stood at 5 feet 6 inches. Leaf has brown hair and green eyes. She wears a white hat with a pink semi-circle, a sleeveless teal blouse, a red skirt, long teal socks and black shoes.

"Well we should get going or we're going to be late. The bell rings any sec…" Leaf was cut off by the bell ringing and with that all of them dash to the school.

Ash being the dumbass he is, he doesn't know what class he has so he just follow Gary and Leaf. "Ash, what are you doing?" Leaf noticing Ash followed them.

"Umm, going to my class?" answered Ash but it's more like a question.

"Are you fucked? Your class is with Prof. Rowan." said Gary with a laugh.

Ash gave them a sheepish grin then he turn around and start running to his class. Leaf and Gary shake their heads at Ash's behavior and start heading towards their classroom.

* * *

Ash is sprinting through the hallway and when he turn to the right, he saw a shadow so he avoided the shadow but crashes to the wall.

"Are you alright?" asked a feminine voice. Ash's eyes shot open, hazel brown meets green, because of this Ash began to blush furiously. Realizing how close their face were, the girl jumped back.

"Dickhead, my sister asked if you're okay?" shouted a boy behind the girl. The girl glare at the guy because using such strong words.

Ash just notice there's a boy behind the girl so he nodded and stands up. "I-I'm fine- umm- just a l-little fazed. Sorry."

"It's okay, I'm sorry for my brother also. By the way, I'm Lillie and this is my brother Gladion." Lillie introduced. "Can you tell us the way to the principal office?"

"Yea- it's just s-straight ahead- uhh- take the second l-left and the office it's- uhh- at the end of the h-hallway." stuttered Ash. This was Ash Ketchum's secret he can't talk to girls.

"Thanks. Let's go, Gladion!" Lillie drag Gladion to their destination.

As they walk past Ash, he can get a better look at both of them. Lillie stood at around 5 feet 4 inches. Lillie has long light blonde hair and green eyes. She wears a white sailor-like shirt with a blue ribbon, a short white miniskirt with a light blue line, a white pantyhose and white shoes. She had done her hair as a ponytail tied together with a braid.

While Gladion stood about 5 feet 11 inches. Gladion also has light blonde hair that's emo-styled and green eyes. He wears a white shirt, black leather jacket, black ripped jeans and red sneakers.

Ash shake his head, why can't he just become a normal? Does he need to always freeze up in front of a girl? And wasn't he suppose to be late? With that Ash turn around and sprints to his class.

* * *

Ash barged in to the classroom room then he tripped, landing face first onto the ground. The whole class burst out laughing at what happened in front of them.

When Ash looked up he saw a very irritated Prof. Rowan "Mr. Ketchum?"

"Sorry I'm late?" said Ash with a sheepish grin.

"Could you please stand up, when you're talking to me?" asked Prof. Rowan but sounded more like a demand.

"Of course. Sorry." Ash immediately stands up.

"Could you also stop saying sorry? Prof. Rowan eye-twiched.

"Sorry – no- I mean…" Ash stopped when he noticed Prof. Rowan is looking more irritated.

"Mr. Ketchum, would you mind staying after school for 20 minutes detention and 30 laps around the football field."

Ash nodded in defeat and he took an empty seat at the back. This is going to be long day.

* * *

After class ended, Ash grab his backpack dashed straight to the exit but he could hear a voice called out to him "Mr. Ketchum, remember you have detention after school!" called Prof. Rowan and Ash pretend he didn't hear him.

Ash walked through the school hallway and to the school cafeteria. He got his food and searched for a seat and right on time he saw Leaf waving at him. He sat next to Gary and start eating.

They ate in silence but not an awkward silence, it's like a comfortable silence. Until, Leaf broke the silence "So… how is your class, Ash?"

"Not that great, I got detention after school." replied Ash.

"What? Really? asked Gary and Leaf at the same time.

When they're having this conversation, a couple of people walked by. "Hey, isn't that the face-plant guy?" a girl asked.

"Yeah, that's right." another girl answered and they both laughed.

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Is the reason you got detention, the reason you got the nickname _face-plant guy_?" he asked, putting an emphasis at the nickname.

"Pretty much." said Ash with a sigh.

"Ohh.. I need to hear this?" Leaf giggled.

Ash sighed again and told the whole story to his best friends.

"Now that you mentioned it, we have a new kid at my class. He's a blonde and I think he's trying for that edgy look, I think his name is Glanon or Glanion." said Gary and Leaf nodded.

"Yeah, that's the brother and it's Gladion." Ash corrected and he start eating again.

"Do you want us to wait until you finished detention? asked Leaf.

Ash shake his head. "Nah, I can walk home alone. I'm a big boy, now." joked Ash.

* * *

 _After School..._

Ash entered the classroom for detention and saw Prof. Rowan waiting for him. "Ah.. Mr. Ketchum, glad you can join us." said Prof. Rowan.

Ash nodded and walked- wait, 'us'. Ash looked around the classroom and noticed that a girl with light blonde hair and green eyes, it's the new girl that he almost bumped into. What was her name again?

The first two minutes were filled with silence but that changed when Prof. Rowan's phone rings. "Excuse me." said Prof. Rowan before leaving the room.

After the professor left the room, Lillie wanted to change the atmosphere. "So… The name is Ash, right?"

Ash nodded, he actually hoped that this girl won't start a conversation.

"What got you into detention?" asked by Lillie again.

"I was late to class." Ash tried to not stuttered but it made his tone cold.

Lillie was surprised by the way Ash answered her but she didn't put it into much thought. "Me too."

Now the awkward silence filled the room once again. The rest of the detention is pretty empty as Lillie left earlier than Ash because she doesn't need to run 30 laps although Ash finish it pretty fast because Ash is used to running laps around a football field.

After that, Ash was dismissed by Prof. Rowan. He was walking home like usual but he wanted to take another route. He really regretted that choice because this route seems really shady, everything was normal until he heard a girl screamed. Out of instinct, Ash made his way to the source of the scream, he wasn't shock that the source was from a dark alleyway, he kind of expected that. But he never expected to see two guy that is pinning down a girl.

Ash think of helping but hesitated, why would he help someone he never knew, it's not his responsibility, then Ash proceed to walk home.

* * *

 _A couple minutes earlier…_

Lillie was just done with detention and is walking home but she decided that she wanted to take a shortcut but this shortcut is a little shady. Lillie took a left at a dark alleyway but discovered it was a dead end. She turned around to see two guys approaching her. "Hey there, are you lost?" said the first guy a dark grin on his face.

"If you are, we're glad to help." said the second guy also with a dark grin.

Lillie at this point is trembling at fear, she looked around to find an opening and when she saw it, she tried running away but to no avail as she was grabbed by one of the guy and pinned to the wall.

"Eh… leaving so soon? Let's play for a bit, okay?' one of the guy's hand reached for Lillie's skirt but stopped when his hand was kicked by Lillie.

"Feisty one… eh." said the other one as now both of them is pinning down Lillie. Lillie tried to break free by squirming but realized that it wasn't working so she screamed for help. She got her hopes up as she saw Ash looking at her, she tried to scream but her mouth was currently covered, her heart drop when she saw Ash turning another way and walking away.

Lillie was hopeless, she just saw someone just leave her in this situation and to make it worse it's someone she knew. She was about to accept her fate, however….

"Dickheads, leave her alone!" shouted by a voice. Lillie wanted to see who is this voice but she was too scared to open her eyes.

"And why would we do that?" said one of the guys.

"Because I'll beat your asses." answered the voice.

"We like to see your try." both of them charged to the voice but said voice threw his backpack at one the guys face and roundhouse him, successfully knocking him out.

"Did I do that?" said the voice in shock.

"You'll pay for that!" exclaimed the other guy as he landed a punch to the voice's face, who's not paying attention.

The voice retaliate by sweeping one the guy's foot making the guy loses balance. The guy fall with a _thud_ and the voice start punching him at the face until the guy is unconscious.

"You.. Fucking… Rapey… Ugly… Bastard." said the voice between punches. The voice looked around to see Lillie crying in the corner.

The voice walked to Lillie and tried to comfort her. "It's okay, you can open your eyes now. You're safe."

With that Lillie open her eyes and suddenly hugged her savior. "Ash you came back, I saw you turn away from me. I was so scared that you abandoned me."

Ash pulled away from the hug and gave Lillie a guilt expression. "I'm sorry, I was hesitant because I'm also scared. I made excuses to myself to not safe you because that's not my responsibility and I hate myself for that but I'm glad I turned around to safe a person I know."

"I'm glad too."

"Are you okay? Did they do anything?" asked Ash.

"I'm fine because of you." Lillie smiled.

Ash smiled too but that smile vanished when he saw a red gash on Lillie's leg. Lillie followed Ash's gaze and saw the gash. "it's only a gash, Ash. I'm okay."

Lillie tried proving this by standing but finding no success. "I'm going to carry you." said Ash.

Lillie gave a cute _yelp_ as lifted her and start carrying her bridal-style. "Ash I can still walk."

"It's the least I can do for being late." said Ash with a smile then he start heading a direction.

"Ash my home is that way." Lillie pointed at the opposite direction.

"Oops. Sorry." said Ash in embarrassment while Lillie giggled at how clumsy Ash can be.

* * *

After a while, Ash and Lillie finally reached Lillie's home which was huge by the way. Ash knocked the door with Lillie still in his arms, Gladion open the door to see his sister being carried by a guy and a red gash on her legs. "l think you can put me down, Ash." said Lillie which Ash promptly do.

Suddenly Gladion lunged at Ash. "What did you do?"

"Gladion, calm down he's the one that save me and help me get here." Lillie pulling Gladion from Ash.

Gladion let go of Ash and started walking inside. "We're going to talk about it, Lillie. Oh... and thanks for saving her."

"Sorry for my brother." Lillie apologized

"He's worried. I don't blame him." quickly waved off by Ash.

"Well… I better get this patched up, " said Lillie pointing at her gash. "Thanks again."

Ash nodded and was about to leave but remembered that she doesn't know Lillie's name. "Wait. I kind of- ugh… forgot your name. Sorry."

Lillie giggled. "It's Lillie, Lillie Aether and don't you dare forget about it again."

"I won't. Bye!"

"Bye!"

* * *

 **How's that for a first fanfic? I know it's not perfect but I'm happy with it but please tell me your opinion on it.**

 **Now about the story, this is when Ash is a sophomore not a freshman, his freshman year its not too interesting. This story will likely have a small harem but in the end Ash will have to choose, like i said in the beginning, there's no pokemon in the story, not in real life but the games still exists. We'll... Goodbye for now.**

 **GrayShifty signing out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well… this is the second chapter for you guys, I hope you guys enjoy it. Oh, yeah… sorry if misspelled some of the words, I'm still a beginner to this stuff.**

 **I do not own Pokémon**.

* * *

One vs One

* * *

The bathroom door is slightly open in the Ketchum residence as a young teen is looking at himself on the mirror.

"I did it…" said Ash.

"I spoke to a girl and didn't stuttered." said Ash a little louder.

"I actually did it, I'm over it." said Ash a _lot_ louder. He remembered the girl that he helped earlier today, the one he didn't have a problem talking too.

"I CAN TALK TO GIRLS!" screamed Ash.

"Shut the fuck up, Ash! It's twelve o'clock. What are you doing anyway?" shouted Gary, irritated by Ash shouting.

"Nothing." Ash replied quickly as he doesn't want to pissed off Gary even more. He closed the bathroom door and jumped to his bed, falling asleep.

* * *

A couple of green eyes is looking straight to the ceiling as she cannot get any sleep. She's just have been constantly reminded of the event that happened earlier today.

She looked at time and saw its already twelve o'clock, she really needs to sleep if she wants to wake up early tomorrow.

Lillie squealed into her pillow as she remembered the boy that saved her. "Ash…" Lillie trailed off. She loves how warm he is when they embraced, how brave he is when he fight those thugs to save her, how gentle he is when he pick her up and most of all, she loves how his eyes are full of passion. "I… I love him." and with that Lillie fell asleep.

* * *

Ash woke up and did his morning routine like yesterday but this time he's a lot calmer. He walked downstairs and actually ate his breakfast with his Mom and Gary.

No one open the conversation yet, until Gary Oak that is. "Delia, did you hear someone screaming last night?" asked Gary smirking, calling the older women with her first name as Delia didn't like being called Mrs. Ketchum.

"In the matter fact, I did. It was like Ash's voice so I went to check your room but you both are already asleep." answered Delia.

Ash blushed, knowing where this conversation is going so he decided to change the subject. "Gary, how is the football team going?"

Gary rolled his eyes at Ash's attempt to change the subject. "It _is_ Ash that screamed last night." said Gary, ignoring Ash's death stare.

"Really? What happened?" asked Delia getting into it.

Gary grinned as he stands up and did a perfect imitation of Ash talking to himself last night, Ash looked at Delia that is holding her laughter.

Noticing that her son is glaring at her she tried to hold back on the teasing. "I'm sorry, Ash. I'm glad to hear that you gotten over that phobia of yours," said Delia going back to Mom mode and Ash nodded to that. "But… it made me wonder who's the girl that help my Ashy got over his phobia."

"Oh… would you look at the time? We're going to be late. Bye, Mom! Love you!" said Ash before storming out of the house.

"Well… I should be going too. Bye Delia!" said Gary as he followed Ash.

"Take Care!" shouted Delia.

* * *

As both of them entered the school grounds, they met Leaf and took the time for a little chat."

Did he really do that?" Leaf laughed.

"Are you done now?" asked Ash, clearly irritated.

"Okay, okay… I'm done." said Leaf.

"Aren't you going to ask who's the girl?" Gary raised an eyebrow, usually Leaf is pretty noisy at things like this.

"No… I mean if Ash don't want to tell us, we can't force him. Besides I think we're going to found out soon." said Leaf awkwardly as she points a finger behind Ash and Gary.

Ash turns around to see Lillie and Gladion heading towards them, the old would freak out or runaway but this is a new Ash.

"H-hi Ash, t-thanks again for yesterday." said Lillie shyly while blushing.

"…" Ash wanted to say something but there's something inside him that stopped him. What happened? He was fine yesterday, why can't he be fine now. Okay… calm down, just try to not stutter. "Sure. What do you want?" asked Ash coldly.

Lillie was caught of guard by As his tone. Where did the gentle and kind Ash from yesterday? "N-no… I just want to say Hi and…" Lillie was cut off by Gladion stepping infront of her and pushed Ash.

"I'm grateful that you save my sister and all but what's with your tone?" asked by an aggravated Gladion.

"There's nothing with my tone. Let's go, guys!" replied Ash in a colder tone than before, as he turned around and left. Wait, what? That did not happen like he planned, why was he so cold?

Gary followed Ash right after while Leaf apologized and followed after her friends.

Lillie was dumbfounded by what happened in front of her, is that the guy he fell for? A jerk? Maybe she doesn't love him, maybe she just admired him because he saved her.

"Lillie forget about him, let's just go to class." said Gladion, Lillie nodded and followed after Gladion to their class.

* * *

"Ash, what happened back there?" asked Gary, grabbing one of Ash's shoulders.

"Yeah, that's not like you at all." Leaf added in.

"I don't know! I thought I've gotten over it but apparently I haven't. I try to not stutter and you know the rest." Ash retorted.

"Okay… but you need to apologize to her, you got that." said Leaf.

"Thanks, Mom. You too, Dad." Ash joked, lightening the mood.

"Of course, everything for our beloved child." Leaf joked back.

Gary blushed, ' _Our_ beloved child.' How he hoped that he and Leaf will happened in the near future.

"Gary, your face is red. Do you have a fever?" asked Leaf in a concerning tone.

"N-no… It's okay. Let's just go to class." replied Gary dismissively, both of his friends nodded and all of them headed to their class.

* * *

 _After School…_

"Where are they? What is taking so long?" Ash sighed, he and Leaf has been waiting for 30 minutes straight and a pair of siblings never showed up.

"Did they gone home already?" said Leaf.

Ash sighed again. "I don't think so. By the way, you can go home you know?"

"It's fine, we're still waiting for Gary anyway." Leaf looked at Ash, who's looking around the school. "Besides, I can spend more time with you." Leaf mumbled.

"What was that?" asked Ash.

"Nothing."

"Why are they still there? It's been 30 minutes." Gladion hollered in frustration, he and Lillie is trying to avoid a certain raven hair boy and his friend because of what happened earlier.

"Maybe we should just face them, it's clear that they're waiting for us." said Lillie.

"Yeah, you're right." Gladion nodded and started walking to the gates but stop when he saw a group of people heading to Ash and his friend.

"Yo Ketchum, what are you doing with my girl?" a voice yelled.

"I'm not your girl, Trip!" Leaf stated.

"Not yet." said the voice known as Trip, behind him is the football team and Gary is one of them, who had an awkward expression the whole time.

"I'm not and never will be."

"Weird, why don't you want to be with the most attractive guy in Kanto?" said Trip in cocky tone as he put an arm on Leaf shoulder.

Before Leaf could open her mouth, she was pulled back by Ash. "She said she doesn't want to be with you, Trip." Ash butted in.

"Oh… look at this Lil' Ketchum trying to act though." This was certainly ironic because Ash is taller than Trip. "You play basketball right. Let's have a round, the winner can have a date with Leaf."

"Leaf isn't thing that can be put for wagers. Besides I'm only his friend, I don't have the right and that goes for you too." said Ash, Leaf had a bittersweet feeling about this, she loved how Ash defend her but sad at the same time, that he called her only as a friend, not that it's wrong but she hoped it can be more than that.

"Chicken much." one of the guys from the football team mocked.

Ash eyebrow twitched, did he really just mocked him? He looked to Leaf, who gave him a nod. "Okay then. I'll take you."

That whole conversation was heard by Lillie and Gladion. "Heh, that jerk have a passionate side after all." Gladion looked at Lillie and noticed that she wasn't in it at all. "Lillie?"

Those eyes, those eyes are the same eyes when he saved her, eyes that are full of passion. The pair of eyes she fell in love on.

* * *

In just five minute, the whole school has heard that Trip had challenged some nobody to an One on One. They've come to watch Trip destroy this nobody but unbeknownst to them, they are in for something else.

"First to 15, 3's and 2's. You're up for that?" explained Trip.

"Okay, want to shoot for it?" asked Ash.

"Nah, you have it." answered Trip arrogantly as he passed the ball to Ash and got into defensive stance.

Ash catch the ball and clenched it, he pumped fake which caught Trip off guard, he dribbled past Trip and took the mid-range jumper and making it.

"Lucky shot." Ash heard Trip commented.

Ash had the ball in his hands once again, he noticed that Trip is giving him a lot of space, so he pulled up for three and making it.

The crowd is dumbfounded, how is this nobody outplaying Trip?

Ash heard Trip sighed in frustration so he decided to play with him. This time, Ash did a quick double crossover, drive right, stepped back making separation and faked a shot which Trip fell for, then he spin around Trip and finished it with a cocked-back slam.

This got the crowd going as it's rare to see Trip got absolutely destroyed. "Who's that guy anyway?" asked one guy from the crowd.

"I think his name is Ash." replied another guy.

"Ash, huh? I think he'll be a great addition." said the first guy.

"I think you're right, Red." the other guy commented.

Back with Ash, he was getting annoyed by how Trip played defense, he was hacking the shit out of him. Now Ash had enough, he faked to throw the ball at Trip's head which made Trip jumped back a little making separation, so Ash pulled up for three once again but to add insult to injuries, he did it while fading away, although the outcome is still the same.

It's 10-0 and Ash looked like he was getting started, not to mention Trip hasn't touch the ball once. Ash is looking to finish this quickly, so with a burst of speed he drive past Trip and finished with a simple layup.

"Come on, you got to play better defense than that." Ash trash talked, it seems to be working apparently as you can see Trip face getting red. Ash is getting cocky but perhaps a little bit to cocky as Trip stripped him when he wasn't paying attention.

As soon Trip got the ball he dashed to rim with Ash following behind. Trip attempted a layup but Ash had a different idea as he slammed the ball to the backboard, blocking it. Ash grabbed the ball and dribbled near the half-court.

He dribble the ball closer to the three-point line and bounce the ball between his legs a couple of time, he faked to go left and go right instead, he cross the ball behind his back then bringing it back with a crossover. This sudden move caught Trip off guard, he stumbled before he fell on his butt.

The crowd go wild after seeing Trip got crossed. Ash finished the play with a step-back three point jumper and swishing it.

If the crowd was wild before, Ash doesn't know what to call this. He offered a hand for Trip as he hasn't recovered yet. "Come on, Trip." said Ash with a smile.

Instead of taking Ash hand, Trip slapped it away and stand up himself. "I'll get you back." stated Trip before leaving and his football friends followed to comfort him, with the exception of Gary who stayed to congratulate Ash.

"Good job, Ash. You really showed him." said Gary while raising a fist for a fist-bump.

Ash returned the fist-bump. "Thanks." replied Ash.

Ash saw Leaf running through the crowd behind Gary and when she reached them, she lunged at Ash. "Thank you so much for that. You don't know how annoying Trip is, he just can't get the message."

Gary felt waves of jealousy hit him, when he saw Leaf hugging Ash but he suppressed that feeling. They're only friends, right?

"Of course, anything for you. Besides, I still get that date, right? asked Ash.

The way Ash said it, does he feel the same way? "Sure, if you want to." Leaf answered shyly.

"Great. Gary, do you want to come too? It's been awhile since all of us hanged out."

"Nevermind." Leaf thought.

"Umm… Sure, when is it? Gary said after putting some thoughts in it.

"How about tomorrow, after school?" Ash looked to his friends, one of them nodded and one of them shake their heads.

"As much I like to go, I have football practice, so you can go on without me." said Gary trying to erase any scent of jealousy in his voice.

"Okay… Then it's going to be only the two of us." said Ash with a toothy grin.

Leaf smiled and nodded, can someone be more sweet and dense than this?

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Lillie and Gladion is eating at the dinner table, Lillie wanted to watch Ash play One on One but Gladion insisted not to. She was convinced that she love Ash, well… love is a strong word but she definitely has feelings for Ash.

"Lillie!?" Gladion shouted.

This snapped Lillie out of her thoughts, she looked at Gladion and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I'm just thinking."

"Thinking 'bout Ash?" Gladion guessed. Lillie have a surprised look on her face. "Why do see on him, anyway?"

"W-what do you mean?" Lillie asked back with a nervous tone.

"Obviously you have a crush on him." stated Gladion.

Was she really that obvious? "Yeah you're right. I guess, that how he saved me just have a special place In my heart." explained Lillie.

"But that's not a good enough reason, Lillie. He's just at the right place and right time. Everybody could do that!" retorted Gladion.

"It's not just that, I have a feeling that he's a caring person and his eyes…" Lillie trailed off. "His eyes are just so gentle but passionate at the same time. That's what I see in him, plus he's attractive." said Lillie confidently.

"If you see that much in him, I guess let's give him a chance but if he still act like a jerk, I don't want you near him!" stated Gladion.

Lillie smiled at his brother, he can be a little overprotective but that's what she loved about him.

* * *

After a while the crowd had dispersed, now it's just a group of friends chatting. "Even though you stopped playing, you're still as sharp as I remember, Ash." Leaf complemented Ash.

"I stopped playing organized basketball but I still play basketball sometimes. Gary helped me get back to it."

"Yes I did and I even beat him in One on One." Gary said with confidence.

"Well… you win once and that's when I started getting back to it."

Gary wanted to say something but a voice stopped him. "Hey… Ash right?" someone shouted from behind the group.

The group turned around and saw two guys walking up to them. "Yeah and who are you?" Ash questioned.

"I'm Red and this Ritchie." The shorter guy introduced both of them while pointing at the taller one.

"Oh… I'm Ash but you knew that already. This are my friends Gary and Leaf." said Ash.

"Nice to meet you." said Leaf while slightly bowing.

"Sup… you guys are from the basketball team, right?" asked Gary.

"Yes and we're here to recruit Ash." Ritchie stated, shocking the group.

"Recruit me?" Ash raised an eyebrow, is a simple One on One enough to judge his skills.

"Yeah, we see that you're not new to basketball and our team really needs every help we can get." explained Red.

"Okay… that made sense but what made you guys so desperate? Are you really that bad?" asked Ash nonchalantly.

The two guys sweatdropped to the raven haired teen choice of word. "It's not that we're bad or anything, it's just that we gotten to the finals two years in a row only two lose everytime. So… yeah we're kind of desperate." Red explained once again.

Ash gave it some thought before replying, "You said that, but I haven't played organized basketball for over two years!" said Ash.

Seeing the two guys disappointed faces, Ash turned to his friend. Gary gave him a shrug while Leaf tried to help him. "Well… it's up to you Ash. It's your life."

"But… I'll gave it some thought, though." said Ash.

Red and Ritchie faces lit up. "Thanks Ash, come practice with us this weekend if you thinking about joining. With the season starting, our chemistry need to be in top form." Ritchie thanked Ash and Red nodded. After that, both of them said bye and walked away from the group.

After the group couldn't see Red and Ritchie anymore, Gary couldn't help to ask, "So... are you going to join the basketball team?"

Gary and Leaf thought Ash isn't going to answer but Ash gave them a toothy grin.

"Yeah, I think I'll give it a shot!"

* * *

 **Okay... That concluded the second chapter for you guys. Maybe there's some of you that called bullshit that Ash beat Trip 15-0 but remember Trip doesn't play basketball at all. And... Yeah if you can feel the same vibe as Love &Basketball yeah that because I'm inspired to write this story because of that.**

 **That's all folks.**

 **GrayShifty signing out _(I even mimicked his outro. Hehe, Sorry)._**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys… I'm back with another chapter. I have an announcement for you guys, remember when I said that this story will likely have a harem? Yeah… about that, I originally wanted to make it a big harem but I can't. I'm not that good of a writer yet, so… it will be a harem that probably consists of 5 girls. You guys already know two of them, but who's the other three? Okay… let's get to the chapter.**

 **I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

 **The Date at The Carnival**

* * *

"I think I'll give it a shot!"

"Great! I'll always support you." said Leaf, she always loved to watch Ash play when they're still in middle school and she wouldn't mind doing that again.

"Well… if you're going to bring us home that trophy, maybe I'll try a little harder to carry the football team to the championship." Gary stated jokingly.

"Then… let's hope we keep our promises." Ash smiled at his friend.

Leaf giggled at Ash and Gary's cockiness, maybe if you're that close together, you're bound to have some similarities. "Since you guys are getting back to it, maybe I'll try cheerleading." said Leaf with a smile, shocking the two teens.

"Really!?" Ash and Gary are shocked that Leaf is trying cheerleading.

"Or do both of you don't want me to do that?"

"No, no… we're just surprised that you want to do cheerleading." Ash replied and Gary nodded.

"I mean… you guys are going to work hard, I might as well do cheerleading. Besides, it'll be boring if I just sit on the sidelines every time, if I'm going to be on the sidelines, I might as well do cheerleading.

"Well… thanks for that, Leaf." said Gary while blushing but this go unnoticed by his friends.

"Of course, but try to pay attention to the game, not me." Leaf winked at the two teens.

"That's going to be hard to do." Both Gary and Ash mumbled at the same time causing both of them to looked at each other and laughed with Leaf following.

The group chatted for awhile until finally going home.

* * *

Ash is currently doing his math homework, while Gary is laughing at a video on his laptop. Ash sighed in annoyance, "Gary, shouldn't you be doing homework as well?"

"Of course, I already did that." Said Gary, recovering from his laughter.

"When?"

"I did it, after class. It was so easy, it only took 5 minutes." replied Gary with a smirk.

"Tch… Nerd." Ash commented.

"Well… unlike you, I actually have a goal. Becoming a Research Scientist isn't easy you know." Gary retorted.

"Okay, Okay… it's a joke, sheesh. Besides, I have a goal, well… I used to." Ash closed his book and walked to his bed.

"That's my point man, you need to think of something. What was your goal, anyway?" asked Gary.

"An NBA player." Ash answered before tucking himself in his blanket and goes to sleep.

An NBA player? Well… if Ash hadn't got injured and didn't stop playing, he has a good shot of making it, but that's life for you. Gary sighed before also tucked himself inside his blanket and falls a sleep.

* * *

Ash is walking through the hallways searching for Gary and Leaf because someone doesn't want to wait a couple of minutes. Ash sighed, Gary is such an ass! He looked around to see a pair of siblings walking to him. Now, Ash is in an awkward situation, where neither side is opening the conversation. After a couple seconds of looking at each other awkwardly, Ash decided to break the ice but he can't be cold.

"H-hey, umm… sorry f-for yesterday, I… I was out of it." Ash apologized, if he need to be awkward to not be cold, he would gladly took the former.

"I-it's okay, we wanted to say sorry too, we know you waited for us yesterday, but we avoided you." said Lillie in shy tone.

"Don't worry, I would do the same if I was you." Ash joked sheepishly, earning a giggle from Lillie.

"You're not that bad. You saved me, remember." said Lillie

Ash smiled, maybe he gotten a little better. "Yes, I did and I was glad that I did that."

Lillie blushed at Ash's smile. Where did this go yesterday?

"Well, maybe you can do something for us, after that rude interaction yesterday?" Gladion suddenly butted in.

"Gladion! What are you doing! ?" Lillie whispered so Ash can't hear her. Gladion didn't answer Lillie, instead he gave Ash a hard stare.

Ash, who doesn't realize the stare he is receiving from Gladion, think for a little bit before smiling at the Lillie and Gladion, "Of course. You're new to this town, right? I'll show you around and tell my favorite places, including my favorite restaurant, they made the best dishes."

Gladion nodded, that would be nice. It's like hiring a tour guide for free.

"T-that sounds lovely, Ash. How about later?" Lillie agreed.

"Sorry, ugh… I kind of already have a plan… but I'm free tomorrow after school." said Ash while rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh… it's fine." said Lillie, she hoped that this 'plan' didn't involved Ash going somewhere with another girl. "Let's do it tomorrow, then. You alright with that Gladion?"

"Yeah… I'm fine with that."

Ash was about to say something but he was beaten by the bell, that same bell also take the little confidence Ash had. "O-okay, I'll see you guys later." said Ash then he turned around and headed to his classroom.

"See… He's a sweetheart, Gladion." Lillie praised Ash.

"Whatever, let's just head to class." Gladion stated.

* * *

Ash is sitting in the middle of the class, thinking of the encounter he had with Lillie and Gladion, he's convinced that he gotten better at overcoming his weird phobia, because when he's still in middle school he couldn't even think if he's around girls. He still stuttered a little bit, but nonetheless progress is progress.

"Mr. Ketchum?"

….

"Mr. Ketchum!?"

….

"MR. KETCHUM!?" Prof. Rowan yelled at Ash.

That snapped Ash out of his thought, he frantically looked around and said an obnoxious 'what?'.

"I think you just like getting detention, is it some kind of fetish?" asked Prof. Rowan while shaking his head, the whole class laughed at the professor's remarks.

"Sorry, Professor. It won't happened again." Ash apologized.

"Fine, but you're going to get 30 minutes to think about it."

"No, no… I can't, I have plans. Please…Professor, give me a chance." begged Ash.

"Okay, you can avoid detention, if you can answer a question." The Professor stated.

Ash nodded to the professor, he have to get this right.

Prof. Rowan walked back to his desk and start flipping pages from a book. He nodded, signaling he have found a question, he looked at Ash and asked, "When does the sky become space, Mr. Ketchum?

Ash smirked when he heard the question, astronomy is kind of his thing. "The official boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space is called the Kármán line. This line lies 100km above sea level and is named after aeronautical scientist Theodore von Kármán."

The Professor raised an eyebrow, "That's correct, Mr. Ketchum." Ash grinned and mentally fist-pumped.

The other students was shocked, to hear Ash get the question right. Ash was never really stood as a smart person, they all expected Ash to get it wrong.

* * *

 _After School…_

Ash is waiting for Leaf at the school gate. He's waiting patiently while watching Gary practice, which he can saw from the school gate. "Ash!" Ash heard someone called him, he turned around and saw Leaf running towards him.

"Hey… you ready?" asked Ash.

"Of course… where do you want to go first?" asked Leaf, she is so excited about the date, she almost can't contain herself.

"Hehehe… well, I wanted to get a pair of basketball shoes. My last pair is getting dirty."

"Then, let's go to the shopping district." Leaf grabbed Ash's hand and dragged Ash to the shopping district.

* * *

Leaf is currently following Ash as he looked over some shoes. He's eyeing a pair of black Nike shoes but Leaf doesn't know what it's called. "Interested?" Leaf asked.

"Yeah… it's the new series of my last pair but I think they don't have my size." answered Ash with a hint of disappointment.

"Really? What size are you?" asked Leaf again.

"Eleven."

"What size is the shoe that you're holding?"

"It's size elev- how in the world am I that dumb?" Ash sighed and face-palmed as he realize his mistake.

Leaf giggled at Ash clumsiness but that's one of the thing that made him so attractive. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Ash. Everyone do that."

"Really?"

"Well… no." Leaf sweatdropped as Ash sighed once again.

"Whatever… let's just go and buy these before we go to the carnival." stated Ash while he brought the shoes to the counter.

"Sure. Wait-, what carnival?"

* * *

Ash and Leaf are walking through the gate of the carnival, Leaf is flabbergasted by how big this carnival is, How did she not know about this? "Umm… Ash did you planned this? Asked Leaf.

"Yeah… it's been awhile since we last hangout and I don't want it to be just chatting, eat some food, and walked around, not that that's wrong or anything but I wanted to do something exciting." said Ash.

"That's fine with me." Leaf stated, "Then… what are we waiting for let's have some fun." Leaf dashed to the nearest booth leaving Ash behind.

Ash grinned as he watched Leaf trying to get a prize Bulbasaur doll. Leaf throw a makeshift Pokéball to a button below the Bulbasaur doll and it hit, Leaf waited for it to made a 'ding' sound as the owner said, that it show that you've win but it never came. "What happened? I hit it!" Leaf complained.

"Sorry, Miss but no 'ding' no doll. You have to hit it harder." The owner stated.

Leaf face noticeably got pale, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked behind her and saw Ash smiling at her, "Don't worry, let me try." said Ash.

"Oh… the boyfriend wants a try?" the owner smirked.

Ash knew that this is probably rigged, but he's been eyeing this bell that's behind the doll. Ash lined up his shot and threw the makeshift Pokéball.

…

'Ding'

The Pokéball hit the bell and bounce of to the ground. Ash shouted in excitement with Leaf doing the same. "I'll be taking the Bulbasaur doll, please."

"You cheated! You didn't hit the button!" argued the owner.

"Leaf… did he said that I need to hit the button? " asked Ash sarcastically.

"No… I just heard that there need to be a 'ding' and I certainly heard a 'ding'." answered Leaf also sarcastically.

The owner sighed in defeat and handed the doll to Ash, "Congratulations…"

"Thank you." said Ash before grabbing the doll and giving it Leaf, "Here…"

"Thank you so much, Ash!" said Leaf.

* * *

Ash is currently buying an ice cream for Leaf while Leaf is in the restroom. Ash saw Leaf looking for him, he approached her and handed her the ice cream. "Thanks, Ash!"

"You want to ride the ferris-wheel?" asked Ash as he noticed that Leaf is watching it.

"Sure it will be a great way to end the date." replied Leaf, before regretting to say 'date'. Ash didn't see this as a date, what if he got weirded out that she thinks that, this is a date?

"Yeah… I think so too." said Ash, completely oblivious.

"Thank god for that." Leaf mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Let's get to the line." Leaf grabbed Ash hand and dashed to the ferris-wheel.

They both entered the cart and sat at the opposite side of each other. They sat with an awkward silence as both of them don't know what to say. Leaf's heart skipped a beat as the ferris-wheel stopped when they're at the very top. "Wow… looked at the view!" exclaimed Ash, finally breaking the silence.

Leaf saw through the window the most beautiful site she has ever scene, the carnival was on a harbour so they can see the sunset into the sea, making the sea looked orange.

Leaf looked to Ash and sighed, it's now or never! "Ash… I want to tell you something." said Leaf shyly.

"What is it?"

"I-I want t-to tell you that… I l-li-" Leaf was cut off by Ash's phone ringing.

The ferris-wheel started to spin once again while Ash is on the phone. Why is fate so mean to her? That was the perfect moment! Well… she need to confess sooner or later but she don't think she could mustered the courage after that.

"It's my mom, she told me to buy some eggs on the way home." explained Ash, "What did you want to say?"

"J-just forget about it, it's not important."

Ash raised an eyebrow, it seems pretty important but understanding that Leaf don'tant to push subject, he decided to drop it and suddenly the cart starts moving again.

Ash and Leaf got out of the cart and headed to exit. "Time sure go fast when you're having fun." said Leaf.

"Yeah… but we're not done yet."

"What do you mean?" Leaf raised an eyebrow at Ash.

"I got reservations for us at Restaurant Le Wow." Ash stated.

"What!?" Leaf was certainly surprised that Ash got reservations. Restaurant Le Wow need at least three days before getting reservations, "How?"

"Well… yeah. It's date, right? I don't want it to be mediocre, so I contacted a friend that worked as a manager there." Ash smiled.

Ash think this as a date! Leaf don't know what to say, she looked down to hide her face from Ash because she knew she's blushing right now.

Ash noticed Leaf hiding her face, "Leaf? You okay? Do you want me to cancel?"

"No, no I'm just shocked that you did that for me." Leaf immediately denied the offer.

Ash smiled, "Of course… You're Leaf and that makes you special." said Ash as he grabbed Leaf's hand, "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

Ash and Leaf had just taken the bus from the carnival to Restaurant Le Wow. Both of them got in line and waited before getting a seat near the entrance, it's literally the first table from the entrance. The restaurant is not a fancy restaurant, where you need to wear something formal but it's a casual place with it's customers varied from families, old couples and even teens like them.

They both ordered their food and chatted until their food arrived. They ate their food in comfortable silence, Ash looked at Leaf and laughed, "What so funny? asked Leaf.

"Nothing." Ash's hand reached beside Leaf mouth and wiped some food out of Leaf's face. "You should slow down when you eat, you know."

"That's ironic, coming from you." retorted Leaf.

"At least, I've gotten better."

"Yeah… in middleschool I didn't know how to tell the difference between you and a pig." Leaf joked.

"Easy, one had better table manners than the other."

"And the one that had better manners is the pig?"

"Exactly." Both of them laughed, they continued for another minute until Ash noticed something.

"Why did you change your hairstyle?" Ash suddenly asked.

"Well… I don't want my hair to get in the way while I'm cheerleading so I changed it into a ponytail, I might as well get used to it. Do you like it?" asked Leaf while trying to hide her blush.

"Yeah! It looks cute!" complimented Ash.

Leaf was caught of guard by that, she can't even imagine how red she is now. Ash, who noticed that Leaf's blushing, immediately blushed too, how can he be so careless? He just made this awkward and if he took back those words, Leaf will surely took it the wrong way!

The awkward silence did not go for long as the waitress came and asked if they wanted refills, Ash, who is thanking god for how lucky he is, take the offer and asked for the bill.

The awkward silence came back to them and Ash tried to change the mood, "So… what about cheerleading? Are you really going to do it?" Ash tried.

"Yeah… I told my friend, who's actually the captain of the team, that I'm going to join and she told me that I can join tomorrow." Leaf exclaimed.

"That's great, what's her name?" asked Ash.

"Huh?"

"Your friend's name? What is it?"

Leaf cringed a little, she was hoping that Ash wouldn't asked her that. "It's… Misty."

"What!?" Ash almost yelled, "She went to the same school as us? And you're still friends with her?!"

"I thought you knew already, didn't Gary told you." said Leaf sheepishly.

"No, he did not. Now, answer my other question?" Ash interrogated.

"I don't see anything that stop me from being friends with her, she's a good girl." Leaf defended herself.

"A good girl would never bullied someone through middleschool!" stated Ash.

"D-do you want to know why she did all the stuff that she did?"

"Why? Because I'm easy to make fun of?"

"Sh-she said that she liked you." Leaf said in low voice, that even Ash had trouble hearing what she said.

"What?"

"It's because she have a crush on you!" Leaf managed to say.

Ash was shocked to hear that, he always thought that Misty hate him for some reason, he never thought that Misty like him. "Really?"

"Yeah… Well, she used to," After Leaf said that the waitress came back and gave Ash the bill, Ash looked at the bill and reached to his wallet, he grabbed the exact amount of money to pay. "You don't have to pay for me!"

"It's fine," Ash answered as he handed the bill to the waitress and walked out with Leaf.

They walked in silence until they reach a bus stop. Soon enough, the bus came and both of them went in the bus. The bus ride was pretty awkward as both Ash and Leaf didn't say a Thing. The bus stop at Pallet and both of them got off the bus. "Thank you for everything, Ash. I had an amazing time, " exclaimed Lead while tightening the hug on her new Bulbasaur doll.

Ash smiled at Leaf, "You can thank me later, we haven't reach our destination."

"Huh, what do you mean?

"Well… I can't let a girl walk alone at night!" said Ash.

"So… you mean girls can't protect themselves!?" Leaf pouted.

"W-what!? No… I-I mean…"

"Relax, I'm just kidding. Besides, I can walk to my home just fine, I'm not a little girl you know, plus your house is right there," Leaf pointed at a house across the street.

Ash looked at the direction Leaf is pointing and saw his house, "Well… I won't be a gentleman if I let you walk home alone, so just let me walk you home for me, not for you."

"But I don't care about you, so I'm gonna walk home alone and that's it!" replied Leaf in a half jokingly.

"Tch… Fine but be careful," said Ash.

"Okay, but sheesh… I'm almost 17, Momma Ash," joked Leaf.

Ash laughed, "Heh, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah… Thanks again, Ash," said Leaf.

Ash gave Leaf a thumbs up as he crossed the road, Ash looked back once again to see Leaf heading the other direction. He smiled to himself and entered his house, "I'm home…"

"Fucken' finally, the game is almost over and we're down by 3!" shouted Gary from upstairs.

"Wait… What!? What the hell happened? Hold on I'm coming up…."

"BANG! BANG! Oohhh my god, I can't believe he made that! He was fading away for goodness sake and that touchdown pass was something else. We're going to OT, bitches!" Gary shouted once again but much louder.

"Hold up, what happened?" Ash laughed as he ran upstairs.

* * *

 **Well... Yeah, this chapter took me almost a semester to finish and I wanted to say sorry, school really got my hands full and fanfic just become a lesser priority. Just three more weeks and I'm done with school, after that I'll try to update more consistently. That's everything I want to say and hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. And by the way can you tell me what basketball game I reference in this chapter and what play?**

 **GrayShifty signing out.**


	4. Chapter 4

**What's up, guys? I'm finally done with school and you know what that means right? More fucken' free time! More time to play games, basketball and write fanfiction. So, I'm hopefully going to update more frequently… Okay, moving on… I've decided that the harem will consist of 5 girls and one that doesn't count. Enough of that, let's continue the story.**

 **I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

 **Getting to Know**

* * *

Ash was stuck in history class, listening to Professor Sycamore telling a story about dead people fighting against dead people… he can never understand, what importance does he get from learning history?

Well, the one teaching is Prof. Sycamore, so he can't complain that much. To the right of him is Leaf writing every word that came out of Professor Sycamore's mouth, Ash rolled his eyes at Leaf and looked at Gary, that's two rows behind him, who is also writing everything that he heard. Ash sighed, this is going to be a long day.

* * *

Ash got out class and he felt exhausted, maybe it's because there were three pop quizzes! THREE! He thinks the teachers have agreed to overheat the student's brains. He just can't wait to go home and play Fortnite.

Ash walked to the school gate, but stopped when he heard someone called his name. Ash turned around to see Lillie and Gladion walking towards him, "Ash… Where are you going? I thought you're going to show us around?" said Lillie sweetly.

Ash tried to hide his shock expression, he totally forgot about his promise, "Of course, I was planning to wait in front of the school gate," Ash laughed nervously.

"Oh, I thought you forget, but you're not that kind of guy, right?" Lillie looked at Ash hopefully.

Ash cringed at himself, how could he have told the truth now, "What!? No… I promise, didn't I?"

"Well, I supposed that you've plan where you're going to take us?" Gladion squinted his eyes at Ash.

"uhh… Yeah, I did."

"Then, lead the way, Mr. Guide," said Gladion while smirking.

"Of course, precious tourists. Follow me," Ash walked through the gate with the siblings following him. "Well, no Fortnite for me," Ash thought to himself.

* * *

Ash led the siblings around town, from his favorite ice cream parlor to the arcade near the shopping district, and their last stop is Restaurant Le Wow, Ash's favorite restaurant. Ash wanted Lillie and Gladion to have a good time and how could someone do that with an empty stomach?

Normally, it's hard to get reservations at Restaurant Le Wow, but with the help of his friend, he can get it easily. As the group approached the restaurant, Ash saw a familiar face. "Cilan! What's up? Thanks for helping, by the way," greeted Ash.

"I'm doing great and don't mention it, but I'm surprised that you came back so quickly, not that I'm complaining," Cilan looked at Lillie and Gladion and smiled at them, "and both times you had company, you usually came here all by yourself."

"So, I'm not supposed to have friends? What kind of racism is that?" joked Ash with a hurt expression, which managed to get a chuckle from Cilan, Lillie and Gladion. "By the way, let me introduce you to Lillie and Gladion."

"Hello," said Lille while bowing a little, while Gladion just nodded.

"Hello to you too, a friend of Ash is a friend of me. Let me show you your seats." said Cilan then he led the group to their seats, "A waiter will come to take your orders," Cilan left the group enter a room.

"The food here is really good, so enjoy yourself, by the way it's on me," Ash smiled at the siblings.

"You don't have to Ash… we can pay for our self," said Lillie.

"No, it's okay, I insist,"

"Well… Thank you for that," Lille thanked Ash and started to browse the menu.

"Yeah, you're not as bad as I think you were," Gladion added in.

"Well… that's the point to all of this," Ash smiled, then the waiter came to take the group's orders.

* * *

The group have finished their food and now, they're just chatting about their life, getting to know each other. Ash learned that the siblings have come from a region called Alola and the reason they came to Kanto is that their mother wanted them to get the experience of studying abroad, which Ash doesn't understand the point of it, but he won't question it. The siblings learned that Ash was a basketball player but injuries made him hit a rough patch, Ash didn't tell them about his phobia because of… personal reasons.

"So, Ash…" Lillie decided to start some small talk, "I was wondering… Cilan said you came here yesterday with company?"

"Yeah, I went with a friend. Her name's Leaf, you guys have met actually, you know the girl with brown hair and green eyes," explained Ash and both siblings nodded as they remember the girl.

Gladion raised an eyebrow as he noticed something, "So… you won the bet?"

"Huh, what do you mean?" Ash questioned.

"You play one on one with the that Trip guy for a date with Leaf, right?"

"Well… yeah, but it's because I just don't want Trip to keep hitting on her, it's obvious that Leaf's isn't interested. How did you know by the way?" said Ash as he took a sip from his drink.

"Me and Lillie overheard your conversation yesterday and I was wondering how did it go…" Gladion explained.

"Well, I won, but I didn't think yesterday as a date, it was just two friends hanging out," Ash gushed.

Lillie smiled at that, Ash seemed to be a really caring person. Well, that's what made her fell for him. Lillie have a flashback to when Ash saved her, then she imagined she's being carried those muscly arms of Ash, Lillie blushed at the thought and started giggling to herself, "What's wrong with her?" Ash asked about Lillie, who started giggling out of nowhere.

"No Idea…" Gladion answered, "Let's just give her time to get it out of her system. By the way, your one on one with Trip, what's the score?"

"Oh… it's 15-0," said Ash. The score surely shocked the siblings, Ash told them that he played basketball, but he didn't tell them that he was that good, wasn't Trip supposed to be the school jock? "it was a good game, though."

"I don't know if you can call that a good game, more like…" Gladion started.

"A complete blowout," Lille finished.

"I had fun… even if I lost, as long I had fun, it's a good game, right?" Ash smiled as he scratches the back of his head.

Hearing the word that Ash said, the siblings couldn't help, but smile. 'He really is special…' Lillie thought to herself. The group continue to chat until they figured out that it's already late. When they got out of the restaurant, they noticed that they're heading different ways, "Well… See you at school tomorrow, then," Ash gave the sibling his signature smile.

Lillie blushed, "Yes, I'll be looking forward to it."

"Yeah, see you," said Gladion.

"Sorry again for being a jerk to you guys," Ash tried to avoid eye contact with the siblings.

"Forget about it, Ash," Lillie smiled, "You've prove yourself to be a nice guy," Even after Lillie said that, Ash is still avoiding eye contact, Lillie noticed this and grabbed Ash hand "Ash, come on, look-"

Lillie was stopped by Ash suddenly pulling his hand for Lillie's hands and taking some steps back, Lillie was shocked by Ash sudden moves "Ash… what's wro-" Lillie stopped again, when she saw Ash. She could see Ash have an expression of fear, some sweats on his face and he's visibly shaking.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Ash yelled, the sudden outburst shocked Lillie and Gladion.

"Ash… What do you mean?/What's wrong with you?" Lillie and Gladion said in unison.

"SHUT UP!" Ash yelled again. After that, there was a moment silence, then all the things that happened finally dawned on Ash, "I-im… I-im s-sorry, I-I didn't m-mean to-" Ash couldn't finish his sentence when he saw Lillie and Gladion's expression and he did the only that he could do in that situation… run. Ash turn around and started running away.

"Ash, wait!" Lillie called out and tried to run after Ash, but she was stopped by Gladion holding her hand.

"Lillie, stop! Don't run after him!" Gladion ordered.

"Why…?"

"What do you mean 'why'? because he's not worth it."

"No! Not that, I'm asking… Why- why did he look so scared? Did I do something wrong?" Lillie cried.

"You did nothing wrong, Lillie. You did nothing," Gladion gritted his teeth, 'Why do you keep on hurting her, Ash?' thought Gladion.

* * *

Ash kept running until he reached the bus station which was relatively empty, the only other one there was a man, an old lady, and a girl, Ash took a seat away from the others and waited for the bus. The bus arrived a minute later and Ash enter the bus, he took the seat at the back, hoping that no one would sit close to him, but to his annoyance the girl chose to sit next to him. Well, if she doesn't strike up a conversation, he doesn't mind. Ash looked out the window and saw the rain started to fall, 'What's wrong with it me? I was talking to her normally, but when she touches me… why can't I be normal?' Ash thought to himself, he unconsciously let out a sigh which catch the attention of the girl.

"What's wrong? Don't like the rain?" the girl asked.

'Why is she talking to me?' Ash furrowed his eyebrows and turned to the window once again.

"Not a talker, huh? Well, can't blame you for hating the rain, it made the atmosphere all gloomy." The girl started, "but we can't live without it, if it's all sunshine everything will be dry, you need rain to freshen' it up."

'Did this girl really just gave me live advice?' Ash glanced at the girl and notice the girl appearance for the first time, the girl wears a skater attire, consisting of a short white and red sleeveless dress over black cycling shorts and a white and red helmet on her head, she has gray eyes and a very long creamy blonde hair tied in a big, thick, high fluffy ponytail that emerges from the back of her helmet. She also wears white boots with red heart decals, which also function as skates. Ash turned to the window again, "I-it's not th-that I hate the r-rain, b-but I don't like the t-time it chose t-to fall."

The girl smile, "So… you can talk after all, and what do you mean it's not a good time to rain? Oh… did you just broke up?"

'This girl really is something else… for someone she doesn't know the name of, she's really nosy about me.' thought Ash, but Ash chose to ignore her, why would he tell someone he doesn't even know his secret?

"Well, I expected for you not to answer, but don't ignore me… Oh yeah, I haven't even told you my name, I totally forgot. I'm Korrina Corni, nice to meet you," After the girl, known as Korrina, introduced herself, there was a moment of awkward silence as Ash is still ignoring Korrina, "You know if someone introduce their self, you need to introduce yourself too. It's commo-"

Korrina was stopped by the bus stopping at Pallet, 'Finally… Thank god, I'm saved.,' thought Ash as he stands up and start walking towards the exit.

"Hey! You haven't told me your name!" Korrina hollered.

Ash stopped for a second before walking again, "I-It's Ash."

"Well, see you later," Korrina smiled and waved at Ash.

Ash saw that Korrina waved at him, but he just continues to walk, not even bothered to put his hands up.

* * *

Ash entered his house and is greeted by his mom, "Ash, welcome home! Have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah, I have," Ash answered.

Delia comes out of the kitchen and into the living room, "Okay, if you still want to eat—Ash! You're drenched!"

"I didn't feel like waiting in the bus station…" said Ash.

"Hurry up and shower, then! Or you'll get sick." Delia ordered.

Ash nodded and walked upstairs, he entered his room and saw Gary reading some books, "Sup, Ash. How did it go?" Gary looked over his book and saw that Ash is drenched, "Well, judging from your expression and that your whole body is covered by your water, it didn't go well."

"I don't wanna talk about it," Ash mumbled as he entered the bathroom.

Gary walked over to the bathroom door and lean on the wall, "Come on, Ash… we're brothers, you can talk to me."

"It's just… it's just my stupid phobia, it ruined everything," Ash explained as he turns on the shower.

"What do you mean?" Gary asked.

Ash sighed, "Everything was fine, we all had good time. We were about to part ways and I apologize for being a jerk, they told me to forget about it then Lillie grabbed my hand and I…"

"You what?"

"I freak out, I pulled my hand away from her and started to panic, then I run away…"

There was a moment of silence, Ash and Gary could only hear water running from the shower. "So… what do you think?" Ash questioned.

"Well… I think you fucked up, when you chose to run away,"

One of Ash's eye twitched, "Of course, I knew that, dumbass! I'm asking you, what do you think I should- you know what? fuck it, I don't need your fucking help," Ash turns of the shower, put a towel around his waist and open the bathroom door to see Gary laughing his ass off. Ash charged at Gary and pinned him down to the floor, "I fucking hate you," said Ash while smiling a little.

"Chill, Chill… I'm just trying cheer a brother up," Gary laughed as he tries to hold Ash's hand from reaching him.

"And it fucking worked," Ash loosen up his strength and smiled, "Thanks, Gar."

"Don't mention it," said Gary.

"But for real, what should I do?" Ash asked once again.

"You should apologize, man. Don't rush it, though," Gary answered.

"I don't know, Gar… Things are going to be pretty awkward…" said Ash.

"When are things _not_ awkward with you?" Gary joked.

"Haha… You're right, tha-" Before Ash could finish his sentence, the door open to reveal Leaf.

"Hey guys, I was bored so I figured I come ov- What are you guys doing?" Leaf stopped mid-sentence when she saw the condition Ash and Gary are in. Ash is on top of Gary with only a towel to cover himself.

"Waitt! Leaf it's not what you think!" Right after Ash said that, the towel that covering him slipped off…

"Sorry to bother you…" Leaf said with a dead tone as she slammed the door shut.

Ash and Gary was frozen as both take everything that just happened into account. Gary blinked and dashed out of room to catch Leaf, Ash snapped out of his daze and dashed out of the room too… of course after grabbing his towel to cover him. "WAITT! LEAFFF!" Both Ash and Gary screamed in unison.

* * *

 **Well… This is awkward. I know I'm really late and I have no excuses, it's because I'm a lazy piece of crap…, but in my defense I have a writer block, I can't think of anything. So… I just want to say sorry and thanks for everyone who are still waiting for me… hehe.**

 **GrayShifty signing out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys… The fifth chapter is here sorry again for may long hiatus, but I hope I can update consistently from here on. This chapter Ash is going to have his basketball try outs, but just doing a plain old try outs will be boring so I made his try outs facing a rival school and someone important will make an appearance on the other team. Enough of me… let's get straight into the chapter!**

 **I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

 **A Rivalry for Days to Come**

* * *

The bell rang signalling the start of lunch break, but the same teenager who always burst out of the classroom door first did not even move an inch from his seat as he was sleeping soundly with no care for the world.

A girl saw the boy sleeping and sighed, the girl approached the boy and shook the boy, but the boy did not seem to be bothered, so the girl shook the boy a lot rougher. The boy snapped up from his sleep and hit the table with his leg, "Huh? What happened? Ohh… It's you Leaf, What's wrong?"

"It's lunch break… don't you want to eat?" Leaf smiled.

Ash looked at his surroundings and noticed that there was only two other people besides him and Leaf, "Yeah… You're right, guess I'm pretty tired," both left the classroom and headed to the cafeteria.

"You? Tired? Guess who had to sleep with the image of you and Gary in _that_ situation?" Leaf asked sarcastically to Ash.

Ash sighed as he remembered the night before…

* * *

"So… both of you were playing wrestle when I walked in?" Leaf is sitting on the couch glaring at the boys who are sitting on the floor with their heads down.

"Yes," Ash and Gary answered in unison.

"Then… why is Ash only wearing a towel?" Leaf asked once again.

"Gary said something that pisses me off while I'm taking a shower, so I got out and charged at him,"

"Hmmm? Is that true, Gary?

"Yes, that's true," Gary also answered while looking down.

"Okay… then, I believe you guys," The guys sighed in relief, but they didn't move from their spot, "Soo… is Ash not going to change?" seeing Leaf's eyes twitched, Ash sprang up and dashed upstairs to get some clothes.

* * *

Ash sighed, "Like Gary and I said it's just a misunderstanding…"

"I know, I'm just playing with you," Leaf giggled and gave Ash light punch to his shoulder.

"By the way, Where's Gary?" Ash questioned.

"Probably already at the cafeteria," said Leaf. "So… are you going to practice later?"

"Yeah… Red said that the try outs is going to be a sparring match against another school."

"Really? Against what school?" asked Leaf.

"It's Saffron I think what he said," Ash answered nonchalantly.

"Saffron!? Isn't that the team that keep beating us in the finals?"

"Is it? Then they are going to taste their first defeat by us," said Ash with confidence.

"Suuuree… good luck with that."

"You don't sound so sure… Don't you believe in me?" Ash asked in a jokingly sad way.

"No, I don't," Leaf stated.

Ash sweat-dropped when he heard Leaf's statement, "You don't sugar-coat things do you?"

"I do… but you're being too annoying," Leaf giggled.

"Well, Sorry for being anno—"

"Why'd you stop talking?"

"I smell meatloaf…" Ash continues to sniff around until he saw the cafeteria.

"Yeah, it's today main dish… Wait, how can you smell it from he—" Leaf was cut off by Ash dashing to the cafeteria.

Leaf let out a sigh and followed Ash inside the cafeteria.

* * *

School had just ended, and Ash is heading towards the gym when he saw a familiar face, "Red!" Ash called out.

"Ash! You came!" Red exclaimed.

"Why are you so surprised? I texted you this morning," said Ash with a deadpan face.

"Hehe… I guess you did," Red gave Ash an apologetic look.

Ash shrug it off, "So… are we going to face off with Saffron?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah, Ritchie told me they're already here," said Red as he entered the gym with Ash following him.

After Ash entered the gym, he saw people with different uniforms getting some shots up. "Looks like we're late…" Ash accidentally think out loud.

"No… they're just early, go ahead and change we're starting soon." Red told Ash, then he walked to the rest of team.

Ash nodded and headed to changing room, but when he headed to the changing room he bumped into someone, "ASH?!" a feminine voice hollered.

Ash got a clear look at the face of the person he bumped into, 'It's the girl from last night! Damn… what was her name, again?' Ash stepped a few steps back with a frighten look on his face.

"What wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Korrina commented.

After hearing Korrina's comment Ash shakes his head and try to keep his composure, "N-no, I-I'm just surprised t-to see y-you here… umm… uhhh…." said Ash while he tried to avoid eye contact.

"You forgot my name, didn't you?"

"W-what? N-nooo… I-I would n-never forget…"

"YOU DID! It was only last night; how did you forget?"

"S-sorry… I'm j-just bad with n-names…" Ash trying to find an excused while trying to avoid eye-contact.

"Really? Then I'll forgive you, but why ar-"

"W-well, I need to ch-change, b-bye…" Ash cut off Korrina and dashed to the men's changing room.

'He's weird… but in a good way,' Korrina thought to herself befores sighing and headed another direction.

* * *

'Why is she here? Does she go to school here? Or is she an acquaintance of somebody? Well… I just hope I don't bump into her anymore,' Ash finished changing, then he headed to the court where everybody else had already started warming up.

"Yo Ash, come here!" Red called out. Apparently, he already wore his jersey underneath his clothes. Ash walked to Red and stood beside him. "Alright! Everybody this is our newest member, Ash Ketchum, he's a second year and he play the 2," Red introduced.

"Right… What he said… Thanks for having me," Ash added in. "Don't we have a coach?" a question suddenly popped up.

"Yeah, we do. She was here until now… Where did she ran off to?" said Red as he looked around and the other members started to look around.

"I'm here… Sorry, I need to use the restroom for a bit... Ash?" the girl said as her ayes landed on Ash.

'You've got to be kidding me…' Ash rolled his eyes at his cruel fate.

"Oh My God! That's the reason you're here…" Korrina cheered.

"Have you guys met before?" a tall guy with tanned skin asked.

"The answered to that is yes, Brock. We met last night in the bus," answered Korrina.

All eyes averted to Ash to confirm the statement and all Ash can do is gave them an awkward smile.

Before anyone could say anything, the referee blew his whistle signalling the game is about to start.

"Okay guys, we'll start with Red at the 1, Ritchie at the 3, Brock and Tracey at the 4 and 5 and with our last shooting guard just graduated… Jesse you're in," Korrina stated, putting her game face on.

A boy with blonde hair, stands up in shock, "I'm starting?!"

"Well… Yeah. With our lack of members and I don't know what Ash is capable of… you're the only option, so don't disappoint me," said Korrina while drawing a play on her mini whiteboard.

"Yes Coach!"

Ash smiled, this really remind him of the good old days… besides Red and Ritchie, Jesse is the only one he recognized because he's a sophomore too.

"Ash, 'cause you're new here. You need to watch how the team play and adapt your playing style," Korrina smiled at Ash.

'S-so bright,' thought Ash. "Y-yes, s-sure."

Korrina nodded and looked at the court, where Tracey and the Saffron's center are getting ready for tip-off. Ash sat on the bench and got a good look on his teammates. Red is about 6 ft and his pretty well-built, Ritchie stood at about 6 feet 5 inches, he is also well-built. Then, there is Brock who stood about 6 ft 9 inches who is rather muscular, Tracey that stood about 6 ft 10 inches, but has lean build and last is Jesse that stood about 6 ft 1 inches who also has a lean build.

The game begins with Tracey winning the tip, Red grab the ball and dribble it past the half court line. He scanned the court and saw Ritchie cutting, so he faked a shot and passed the ball to Ritchie who finished with a layup.

Saffron immediately inbounded the ball, but the pass was to sloppy apparently as Red stole the ball and passed it to Tracey under the basket for an easy dunk.

The team is having a great start, but that made Ash wonder, "Why did we have so much trouble defeating them in the finals?"

"Their number 10 isn't playing," Korrina stated, seemingly answering the question in Ash's head. "if he's playing there would be a different story."

Ash looked at Saffron's number 10, Ash raised an eyebrow, 'Is he really that good?'

The first quarter ended quickly with the score of 19-15.

"Ash, you've seen how the team play. How about you return the favour?" said Korrina as the second quarter about to start.

Ash nodded and tighten his shoe lace and walked into the court, subbing in for Jesse. He got the feeling of nostalgia rushing into him, he snapped out of it however as he heard the referee blow the whistle.

The opposing team point guard dribble to the half court line and passed it to the guy Ash is guarding. However, Ash predicted this and poked the ball out of the passing lane and started the fastbreak. He could feel his defender is right behind him, so after he jumped, he switched the ball from his right hand to his left and finished with a reverse, avoiding the block.

His teammates claps as they saw the new guy made an acrobatic layup. "Nice one, Ash!" Brock shouted.

Ash got back to defense, and the ball went to the Ash's man once again. This time, Ash didn't go for the steal, instead he gave his man a little space.

Seeing the space Ash is giving him, the Saffron player decided to pull up for three, he was a little too late as Ash was there to contest, forcing him to take a bad shot.

Tracey catches the airball and passed the ball to Red, who started his engine, deciding to push the tempo. Red saw Ash running at the other side of the court, he throws the ball and Ash caught it with ease. Ash saw his defender and faked a shot that got his defender on his toes, he drives right and pulled the ball back with a behind the back move that got him open for three, he pulled up and swished the three.

After another miss by Saffron, Red is right above the three point line and passed the ball to Brock for a post-up. Brock dribbled the ball a couple of times and saw Ash open at the corner, Brock hurled the ball to Ash, but Brock was a little late, because as soon Ash got the ball, his defender immediately closed the space. However, Ash with no hesitation pulled the trigger for three and immediately ran back to defense, seemingly knowing the ball is going in, the 'swish' sound help boosting his confidence. Korrina smiled to herself, if Ash can become more adapt to the team, they can be a real powerhouse this season.

The first half ended with Viridian running away with the lead with the score of 40-29. Ash definitely impress the team with 14 points at the half

"Okay, Good job everyone! Take the time to catch your breath. Red, how about you rest up and let Ash handle the one?" Korrina asked Red.

Ash eyes widened as he heard Korrina's request. Ash was about to say something, but Red beat him to it, "Sure, I don't see a problem with that."

Ash sighed, well it won't kill him, but he's not really a pass-first kind of guy, "I'll try my best," Ash added in.

Korrina smiled, but that smile faded away as she saw Saffron's number 10 warming up, "Actually, scratch that. We're going with the same line-up as before, are you guys up for it?"

"Yes, Coach!" All the team members shouted simultaneously. Then, the referee blew the whistle signalling the second half is about to start.

Before they walk into the court, Ash pulled Ritchie aside to ask a question, "Hey, what made Korrina change her mind?"

"It's their number 10, he's playing. I think Korrina just doesn't want to lose to Saffron again," Ritchie answered.

"What's his name?" Ash asked.

"Ethan Gold, he's form Johto, but he transferred here when he enters highschool. He' only a junior though," Ritchie explained, then he ran to the court with Ash following.

The second half started with the referee blowing the whistle. It was Saffron's ball, so they inbounded the ball to their point guard and the point guard immediately passes the ball to Ethan. Ethan dribbled pass the half court line and stops right above the three-point line. Ritchie instantly close the distance, Ethan did a double crossover and got the first step against Ritchie. Ash and Brock was the first to react and came over with the help defense.

Ethan jumped for the layup, but with three defenders on Ethan, Ash was sure that they can stop him, but Ethan has other ideas as he ducked in mid-air and pass the ball behind Ash's back to Ash's guy, who shot the three and made it.

"Sorry… That's my bad," Ash apologise.

"Don't worry, just stay on the weakside next time," said Brock, Richie also nodded.

Ash smiled and ran to the corner. Red brings the ball up the court and did a hand symbol, meaning to start a play, Ash doesn't know any plays, so he stands still on his spot.

Tracey came over to set a pick for Red, Red's defender got stuck and Red drives, but Ash's defender quickly closes the lane, leaving Ash alone. Red quickly passes the ball to Ash, but Ash didn't take the three. Instead, he pumped fake, making his defender jump, and drive baseline. However, Saffron's rotation was on point as another defender came for the help defense, but Ash has something up his sleeves as he jumped, did a 360 spin to avoid his defender and finish with a layup off the backboard.

That was and still is Ash favourite move when he's going up for the layup, it just really catches the defender off guard. "Nice one, Ash," Red shouted, "now get back on D."

Ash ran back on defense and gave Ritchie a high five, "You have to teach me, how to do that," Ritchie whispered.

Ash gave a little laugh and got back to serious mode, he saw Ethan bringing up the ball once again. This time, he did a hesitation move that made Ritchie thought he was pulling up for three, instead he drove pass Ethan and pulled up for the wide open mid-range, making it.

Brock grab the ball and tried to pass the ball to Red, but it was intercepted by Ethan. Ethan attacked the rim, but there was Brock trying to defend it.

Ash saw Ethan smirked before jumping, Brock also jump, trying to contest Ethan. However, everyone was shocked to see what's happening, Ethan's head was above the rim! Brock has no chance to reach Ethan, let alone block him. Ethan slammed the right at Brock's face and hangs at the rim.

Ethan let go of the rim and landed in front of Brock and gave him a cocky smirk, "Jump higher, next time."

"You little…" Brock was about to charge at Ethan, but he was held back by Ash.

"Calm down, Brock. It's not worth it, man," said Ash trying to calm down the big man.

Brock didn't say anything he just grabbed the ball and passed it to Red. Ash ran to the other side of the court while eyeing Ethan, Ethan looked like he was about 6 feet 6 inches, he has a rather muscular build and his playstyle, from what little Ash see, the most frightening thing is probably his explosiveness.

Ash grinned, 'This is getting intresting…" he thought.

* * *

A timeout was called by Viridian High. With 1 minutes and 3 seconds, the score was 76-77, Saffron lead. Ethan went off as he scored 24 points, has 7 assists and 11 rebounds and he only played the second half. Ash was a sniper from three-point distance, he hit 7 threes and has 27 points, he also has 4 assists. Red also has good game with 17 points and 12 assists.

"Okay, guys… It's only 2 and half minutes left, let's make this count. Don't rush things, run the plays. Let's go with Red and Ash at the 1 and 2, Brock and Tracey at the 4 and 5 and Ritchie, you okay there?" Korrina asked as she saw Rithcie was the most exhausted out of the others.

"I'm fine, Coach," Ritchie answered.

"Don't push yourself, but I'm glad that we have you, if we don't, that number 10 probably scored at least 50 points," Korrina joked, trying to get the team morale up.

"Stop it, you're making me blush," Ritchie also joked. The morale went up as the whole team gave out a little laugh.

'But, it's true… if we don't have Ritchie, Ethan probably be unstoppable. Ritchie is by far the best on-ball defender on the team, but if you have to defend someone explosive as Ethan, it's really taxing on your body' Ash thought, 'he's also not doing so well at offense with Ethan guarding him.' Then an idea comes to Ash's mind.

"K-Korrina," Ash called.

"Hmm? Oh yeah… I forgot to tell you Ash, don't call me Korrina when I'm coaching, call me Coach okay?" Ash nodded, "so why'd you call me?"

"Uhh… c-can I switch and g-guard Ethan?"

"Why is that?" Ritchie, who overheard the conversation, asked.

"Ritchie! I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that you're really exhausted and—" Ash was cut off by the referee blowing the whistle.

"Okay guys, let's put our game faces on!" Korrina shouted

Everyone shouted in approval and the starters ran to the court. Ritchie grabbed Ash's shoulder, "Just leave the defensive end to me, Brock and Tracey. You and Red just focus on the offense," Ritchie said with a smile.

Ash nodded and ran to the corner and the ball was inbounded to Red and Red passed the ball to Ritchie at the top of the key. Then, Ash set a pick for Ritchie and rolled to the three point line, Ritchie passed the ball to Ash, but Ethan immediately closes, stopping Ash from taking the three.

Ash looked around and called an iso. He dribbled between his legs a couple of time, before hesitating a shot that got Ethan off guard, so Ash drive right, did a spin move to get pass Ethan and dump the ball to Tracey for an easy dunk.

Ethan once again dribbled the ball up court, but this time he called iso. He did a double crossover and with no hesitation pulled up for three, making it a 2-point game.

Ash grabbed the ball and inbounded the ball to Red, Red immediately called an iso. He brings the ball pass the half court line and did a variety of moves to get pass his defender, taking the mid-range jumper and making it.

One of Saffron's players quickly inbounded the ball, but the pass was intercepted by Ash. Ash quickly went up for the layup, taking the lead by two. All the Viridian players and bench jump up in excitement for Ash's clutch play.

Saffron called timeout with 28 seconds left, Ash went to his teammates and all of them crowded him, "Nice one, Ash!" Ritchie said as he ruffled up Ash's hair.

"Yeah, that's really clutch Ash!" Korrina added in.

"Hehe… th-thanks," Ash grinned like an idiot.

Suddenly the gym door opened, revealing Gary and Leaf. They immediately saw Ash in the middle of huddle, then their eyes averted to the score that shows Viridian in the lead. "They're actually winning, who would've thought?" Leaf thought out load.

"Why are you so surprised? We're ranked number two in the whole region, you know," Gary looked at Saffron's bench as he let out sigh, "Then again, we are against the number one."

"But… this time we got dark horse on our side," Leaf smiled.

Back to Viridian's huddle, Korrina is making a defensive plan, "I'm already happy with our defense, especially you three," said Korrina, looking at Ritchie, Brock and Tracey, "Brock and Tracey keep guarding the paint and Ritchie this time if they call an iso with their number 10, I want you to force him to shoot, so don't put much preasure."

"Yes, Coach," Ritchie nodded.

"Ash, you play the 1 and Red you'll switch with Jesse, we need more height on this one possession," Korrina stated. Right after that, the whistle blew signalling the game about to start again. "Remember, no fouls okay! We're already on the bonus. Now… go out there and dominate!" Korrina shouted and the follow her.

"Brock, Ash if something happens and they score. Ash, you immediately run ahead and wait for Brock's pass, were going to cherry pick. I don't want to waste our timeouts, with him playing you can't let your guard down," Ash and Brock nodded and went to the field.

Korrina's guess was right, Saffron immediately passes the ball to the hands of Ethan, but Ash's man set a screen for Ethan.

"SWITCH!" Ritchie hollered.

Now, Ash is guarding Ethan with 22 seconds left. Ash remembered to not to put too much pressure and force him to shoot, but Ethan took advantage of this and immediately went to shoot from way downtown. 'Shit, did I put too much space?' Ash instinctively jumped forward to contest.

Ash eyes widened as Ethan got him jumping with a pump fake, jumped into him and took a wild shot. The whistle blew signalling that Ash has fouled Ethan when he took the shot, so Ethan will get free throws. But… something more unexpected happened, the wild shot Ethan took _WENT IN!_

The Saffron's bench went crazy after seeing the 4-point play made by their ace. Korrina called a timeout to balance the momentum.

Viridian is in a tough position right now, they huddled, and Ash immediately apologize, "Sorry, guys! It's my fault…"

"Don't worry 'bout it, Ash. We're going to get that point back, trust me," Ritchie encouraged as he messed with Ash hair.

"Yeah, it's not your fault, Ash. We all have been in your shoe, that damn bastard is just too good," Red laughed, trying to lighten up the mood.

Ash looked around and saw all of his teammates smiling at him, "I couldn't say it better myself, Ash. Now, let's forget about the past and WIN THIS GAME!" Korrina hyping her team up, Viridian followed up with a yell that shook the gym. After Korrina draw a play to tie the game, the whistle blew, and the team went to the court with Red and Ash at the backcourt, Ritchie and Brock at the frontcourt and Tracey at centre. Ethan went to the free throw line and easily made the free throw.

With 18 seconds left at the clock, Ritchie inbounded the ball to Red, then Red bring the ball up court and stopped right in front the three-point line. He locked eyes with Brock and both nodded at the same time, Brock went to set a pick at the corner for Ash, Ash's defender got stuck on the screen and left Ash wide open.

Red passed the ball to Ash, but Brock's defender was there to stop Ash from taking the three, so Ash passed the ball back to Red and they reset their offense.

'With how hot that number 17 guy, he probably going to take the last shot, but I can't take my eyes off from Red either," Ethan thought to himself as he's trying to keep Ritchie in check.

Red decided to pass the ball to Tracey for a post-up, while Tracey is posting up, Ritchie managed to shake of Ethan and set a screen for Ash, he gets open once more, but he was instantly covered by Ethan and Red's defender, so he passed the ball to Red and Red drive in, but to his surprise, Ethan was already there for the help defense.

'Shit, he's fast…' Red cursed, but at the corner of his eye he saw something that made him smirk, he lobbed the ball near the rim for an alley-oop.

Brock managed to get off his defender and cut baseline, he saw the ball lobbed by Red and jumped to finish the alley-oop. Ethan was quick with his steps and contest the attempt, but he was a second too late and Brock managed to get the dunk on him.

Leaf and Gary screamed on top of their lungs as Brock dunked the ball, the play hyped the bench, but they're still biting their teeth as it's a tie game with 8 seconds left. Brock wanted to get back at Ethan for the trash talk he did earlier, but his wisdom got the better of him and he sprinted back to defense.

Saffron doesn't have any timeout left, so they inbounded the ball to Ethan, who dribbled the ball up court, with 5 seconds left he did a handful of moves to past Ritchie and with full force he attack the rim.

Ash and Brock got off their man for help defense, but it was useless as Ethan ducked between Brock and Ash, that thought that Ethan was going for a dunk, Ethan switched from his right hand to his left, to lay the ball, right before the shot clock hit 0.0, and win the game.

"LET'S GOOOOO!" Ethan shouted on top of his lungs as all the Saffron's players approached him and crowded him.

While a tense air can be felt around the Viridian's player, Korrina, who saw her players depressed, tried to lighten up the mood, "Come on, guys… it's only one game, even though they already beat us many times and I really wanted to beat them this time."

Korrina stopped herself as she saw some of the players eye-twitched, "Sorry, not helping, but we're better than this, we can't just give up after one loss. Let's held our head high and show them some determination!" all the players smiled and give one last shout, before went over to thank the other team.

"Damn… we almost had them, that number 10 is something else," said Leaf as she let out a sigh.

"Yeah, nothing else form the number one ranked player on the country, huh?" then Gary set his eyes on Ash, "What do you think about how he's doing right now?"

"Knowing him… probably he's more determined then ever," Leaf smiled as he saw Ash and his teammates talking to each other.

Soon after, Saffron to Viridian's bench and lined up to say their thanks. After saying their thanks, both teams went to cool off.

Ash was stretching when he was approached by Ethan, "Yo, Number 17! You got a name?"

Ash was taken a back little as he saw Ethan approached him, but he composed himself, "Yeah, It's Ash, Ash Ketchum," Ash answered and offered a hand.

Ethan took Ash's hand shook it, "Nice meeting you," said Ethan with a huge smile and turned around to his team. Ash blink a few times, Ethan certainly was an interesting guy, 'Man… if every time we met, we'll have a game like this… Damn, I'm getting excited," Ash smiled to himself before getting back to cooling off.

* * *

After Saffron left, Viridian had a team briefing before they left, "So… that's all I want to talk about today's game. Then, let's talk the other big thing we had today," Korrina took a pause and looked at Ash, "Ash, I just want to say, you're officially accepted to the team. That if you choose to join, of course,"

Without a second thought, Ash looked at the team while avoiding looking at Korrina, "After that game, there's no way I'm not going to say YES,"

The whole team jumped in excitement and some even hugged him, "Now, we're going to let Saffron taste that sweet, sweet revenge on the next tournament," A player yelled, then everyone followed by shouting in approval.

After that, Ash said goodbye to the team and met up with Gary and Leaf. "Ash! Good game!" Leaf shouted.

"Thanks! It'll be better if we actually won, though," Ash laughed as Gary ruffled his hair.

"Well, it wouldn't be life if everything went your way… Where's the fun in that?" said Gary as he let go of Ash.

"Yeah… You're right. Ah right, I decided to join the team," Ash exclaimed, happily.

"That's great, Ash! It'll be the first step to the comeback of Ash Ketchum, they wouldn't know what hit 'em," Leaf tried to encourage Ash.

"Apparently they do, if they still won," Gary mumbled with a smirk on his face, that got him a pinch from Leaf, "Hey! That hurt, ya know!"

"That's what you get for being so negative," Leaf pouted while crossing her arms.

"That translated to 'fuck you, Gary!'" Ash joked.

"Well, fuck you too, Ash," Gary replied.

All of them laughed and continue to their homes, with Ash in the basketball team, he's going to see Korrina a lot more now. That means he need to get over his Gynophobia more sooner than later and the first step to that is apologising to Lillie and Gladion, which he will do… tomorrow. After that game, it took Ash everything he had just to stand. In middle school, a game like that would only took a few breaths out of him, now he's out of shape. A goodnight sleep after a long hot bath sounds pretty good right now.

* * *

 **Yeah... that's the longest chapter I ever wrote with 5,000 just 2,000 from the average. Again, I'm really sorry for this long hiatus, my new school and basketball just take every time I have. I'll try to update more often but don't take my word for it...**

 **GrayShifty signing out.**


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